Closed for over a decade, Oscar Niemeyer’s 1972 Hotel Nacional in Rio de Janeiro has reopened as the 400-room Gran Meliá Nacional.
The restoration of the imposing tubular building in the city’s São Conrado quarter has preserved key elements of the original design – including the lobby, staircases, sinuous ramps and Carybé’s 45m-long concrete installation, as well as Roberto Burle Marx’s landscaping – while adding the requisite bells and whistles of a millennial hotel such as Trussardi bedding.
Interior designer Debora Aguiar’s mood-board takes its cues from the imposing Pedro Corrêa de Araújo chandelier in the lobby, though for sheer spectacle it’s all about the wraparound view of Rio, São Conrado bay, Ipanema and Copacabana from the hotel’s 34th floor helipad.
There are enough diversions here to keep guests hedonistically house-bound: the Clarins spa takes up an entire floor, while the pool concierge conducts tipsy caipirinha workshops.
INFORMATION
ADDRESS
Av Niemeyer 769
São Conrado
Rio de Janeiro
-
Beach chic: the all-new Citroën Ami gets an acid-tinged, open-air Buggy variantCitroën have brought a dose of polychromatic playfulness to their new generation Ami microcar, the cult all-ages electric quadricycle that channels the spirit of the 2CV for the modern age
-
Wallpaper* checks in at Rosewood Miyakojima: ‘Japan, but not as most people know it’Rosewood Miyakojima offers a smooth balance of intuitive Japanese ‘omotenashi’ fused with Rosewood’s luxury edge
-
Thrilling, demanding, grotesque and theatrical: what to see at Berlin Gallery WeekendBerlin Gallery Weekend is back for 2025, and with over 50 galleries taking part, there's lots to see
-
Tour the best contemporary tea houses around the worldCelebrate the world’s most unique tea houses, from Melbourne to Stockholm, with a new book by Wallpaper’s Léa Teuscher
-
Brazilian island hotel Auka Boipeba offers a unique approach to the alfresco experienceDesigned by architecture studio FGMF, Auka Boipeba describes itself as an inn, though it’s certainly unlike any inn we’ve ever been to
-
Tune into the rhythm of São Paulo at the Arthur Casas-designed Pulso HotelHoused within a dramatic tower designed by Brazilian architect Arthur Casas, Pulso Hotel is where art, gastronomy and luxury hospitality revel
-
Soho House’s beloved home-from-home concept lands in fun-loving, hard-working São PauloSoho House São Paulo is the brand's first foothold in South America, occupying a historic corner of the Brazil mega-metropolis
-
Villa One at the One & Only Palmilla — Los Cabos, Mexico -
Martim — Wroclaw, Poland -
Tattersalls Hotel — Armidale, Australia -
KLoé Hotel — Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
